A Visit to the Ballet

A visit to the ballet...

Not just any ballet – and not just any company.
For years I had dreamt of going to see Saint Petersburg’s renowned company dance in their beautiful, green, sugar-frosted Mariinsky Theatre.

L-R: Mariinsky Exterior, Curtain, Model of Auditorium (photographs by Agnes Ness)

Birthplace of so many ballets by the legendary choreographer Marius Petipa: La Bayadère, Sleeping Beauty, Nutcracker, Swan Lake, and Raymonda, the name Mariinsky has always seemed fascinating and a bit unreal to me. But in 2010 my dream became a reality and I found myself seated in this historic theatre watching Swan Lake: a magical tale of princesses transformed into Swans by the evil magician, Von Rothbart. It has 2 courtly scenes, choreographed by Petipa and two lakeside scenes by Lev Ivanov. To see countless swans in their precise formation and listen to the swelling music of Tchaikovsky, is to be transported to another world…

Swans in formation (source: Google Images)

Siegfried / Odette (source: Google Images)

Von Rothbart (source: Google Images)

…and the magic did not stop there. A few nights later, my second ballet, Don Quixote, could not have been more different. A rather nonsensical plot, based on the Cervantes novel, tells of the adventures of the mad knight errant and his bumbling servant Sancho Panza – lots of comic antics, colourful characters, lively gypsy dancing, a ‘dream’ ballet sequence and, of course, a couple in love. Lots of virtuoso dancing to show off the Company’s legendary style.

But where do these amazing dancers train? For my next adventure I was truly privileged to visit the renowned Vaganova Academy in Rossi Street to see for myself what this training involved.

Formerly the Imperial Theatre School, now named The Vaganova Academy in honour of the famous dancer/teacher, Agrippina Vaganova who laid out the training system in her book, ‘The Principles of Classical Dance’. This enormous, white-pillared building with over 30 studios has provided the training for many of the world’s most revered dancers. Some, like Nureyev, Baryshnikov, Makarova have brought their Mariinsky experiences to companies in the West.

Curiously, the year of my visit, 2010, saw the arrival of the first British dancer ever to become a member of the Mariinsky Ballet Company. Xander Parish is now a principal with the company dancing the lead roles in:

Xander Parish in Swan Lake (source: Google Images)

Xander Parish in Sleeping Beauty (source: Google Images)

Saint Petersburg is truly a wonderful place for dance. Everywhere I went I saw posters for other theatre dance spectacles:

And amazingly, young dancers practising in public gardens and on street corners…

My new dream.... to go back again to this enchanting city and see more dance.

Find out more

Watch this video and hear young British dancer Xander Parish talk about his experience of living and dancing in Russia.
Source: Daily Telegraph 30.6.2014

For more information about the Mariinsky Ballet and the Vaganova Academy go to:
www.mariinsky.ru/en/
www.vaganovaacademy.com